


Atlas

by Verse



Category: Fate/Grand Order
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:47:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26466673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verse/pseuds/Verse
Summary: And when they asked, years later,"So tell us, who was the Master?"He found that he could not answerBut perhaps, he thought, they would understandif only they could glimpse at one of their hands.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 35





	Atlas

The first thing Goredolf noticed

were

hands.

Plain face, scrawny body. But the hands. The hands set this person apart. The hands were proof of who they were.

Glowing glyphs. Bright red seals. Master’s hands. 

It had angered him. A mere human! Barely even a mage! Bearing these powerful seals. What a joke. 

The first thing

Goredolf noticed

were hands.

A new voice in the Shadow Border. Fresh meat brought to their table. The faint hope that they might actually survive this. And,

hands.

The master had taken off their gloves. Maybe they’d done so before, a couple times. Goredolf knows he hasn’t been paying attention.

He realizes there are many things he hasn’t been paying attention to.

Hands. Scars. Burns. The misalignment of knuckles and wrists. Callouses too big for these too small hands.

Masters don’t fight with their bare hands. _Mages_ don’t fight with their bare hands. And if they ever did, whatever damages they’d get, they could heal. Especially surrounded by other mages and alchemists and (heroic spirits, because from what little he’s heard, they just roamed free, in these cold halls.) It would take powerful curses to force these wounds to remain. Powerful curses, or an especially weak body. The kind you wouldn’t survive with in the wild.

Except they did.The Master. They’re breathing. They’re alive. They’re _human._

Ten fingers, thumbed hands. They’re _human._

The first 

thing

Goredolf noticed

were

hands.

So warm, holding his owns. So rough, holding his owns. The Master was smiling. There were scars on their face, too. It’s a wonder, whether they ran out of make-up, or out of care to hide them.

“It’s okay.” They said with a warm tone. “We’ll make it through this. It’s okay. You’re gonna be okay.”

Their hands were trembling. Goredolf noticed. He noticed the hands and he noticed the tremble and from anyone else it would be from fear but he knows, he knows, the human before them is way past that.

Their hands trembled. When they write, it comes off like scribbles. When they made that kite, they relied mostly on Mash’s help.

Their hands trembled

around his owns

and Goredolf wondered 

if Atlas

quivered so

from the weight of the world.


End file.
